Program Evaluation

Catalog description

The act of evaluating anything and almost everything is a constant in the life of a scholar. Whether said process is formal and shared with a wide audience or informal and private, shared only via one’s beliefs and values, evaluation is happening just about all of the time. An important part of the work of a scholar is to pay attention to, understand and make use of both the process used in evaluation and the resulting conclusions. Equally important is the effort and attention the scholar pays to understanding and making explicit the stance from which the evaluative question is framed. Earnestly understanding the work of those whose efforts are being evaluated is no less significant. In other words, a scholar’s openness to learning from the evaluative process should be as important as the people involved and the conclusions to be reached. Program Evaluation requires thinking and doing; considering and executing. In this course students will spend time thinking about the questions that underlie any program evaluation and preparing themselves to use a variety of Program Evaluation tools and processes. Attention is given to a variety of models and approaches to Program Evaluation.